The horror thriller by David Cronenberg's son, Brandon, imagines a world in which fans can be injected with celebrities' viruses. It's fascinating but not deep enough.

Even if the horror-thriller "Antiviral" wasn't written and directed by David Cronenberg's son, Brandon, this meat locker of a movie might still invite comparisons to much of the elder filmmaker's signature output.

Stark, startling and weirdly inventive, "Antiviral" is set in a vaguely futuristic dystopia where the cult of celebrity has become that much more, well, cultish. The deal: Fans can get closer than ever to their favorite superstars by being injected with famous folks' viruses, which are harvested and brokered by high-security clinics.

Amid the metaphor-heavy madness is Syd March (Caleb Landry Jones), a young clinician working both the legal and underground sides of this icky fame game. Pale and androgynous with an addictive lust for the infectious ooze of a gorgeous media star (Sarah Gadon), March proves a unique, tragi-vampiric creation. However, as an involving hero — or, actually, antihero — he's far too remote.